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Delhi high court seeks response of HRD, Jamia on VC’s appointment

TNN | Jan 28, 2020, 11:54 IST

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NEW DELHI: Delhi high court on Monday sought the response of the Centre and Jamia Millia Islamia on a plea challenging the appointment of the current vice-chancellor Najma Akhtar. Justice AK Chawla issued a notice to Union ministry of human resource development, Central Vigilance Commission, University Grants Commission, Jamia and Akhtar seeking their stand on the petition by a lawyer, who is also an alumnus. The plea by M Ehtesham-ul-Haque alleged that Akhtar’s appointment was invalid on the ground that the search committee mandated to select prospective candidates for the post was constituted illegally. It was also claimed that she was denied CVC clearance initially, which was subsequently revoked after the HRD ministry’s intervention. “It is submitted that the entire process culminating into the impugned appointment of Najma Akhtar is a colourable exercise of power and in flagrant violation and total non-compliance of the statutory provisions of the Jamia Millia Islamia Act, 1988,” the plea further alleged, urging HC to declare her appointment as VC “illegal, arbitrary, void ab initio and non est in law”. In his plea, Haque also argued that laws governing establishment and running of Jamia were “sacrosanct” and couldn’t be interfered with by any authority. “JMI Act and statutes are binding on the university and all its functionaries,” the plea underlined, assailing a central minister’s move to recommend a panel of names for the appointment in 2018. Referring to the search committee set up by the Centre that finally zeroed in on Akhtar, the petition claimed that minutes of the proceedings of the panel showed “neither was academic excellence nor exposure to the higher education system or adequate experience in academic and administrative governance was considered by the committee”. This was despite the fact that the panel was required to record its satisfaction that the three nominees were persons of highest level of competence, integrity morals and institutional commitment, the plea added.